Woody Allen

In his latest movie "To Rome With Love," Woody Allen plays Jerry, a retired music executive and former opera director who travels to Italy to meet his daughter's fiancé. Upon his arrival in the Eternal City, Jerry encounters his future son-in-law's father, an undertaker who happens to have a perfect operatic voice - but only when he's singing in the shower. The chance discovery precipitates a series of comic set pieces, and prompts Jerry to rediscover his passion for the operatic art form.

Woody Allen is on a roll at the box office, as the prolific filmmaker's latest movie looks to follow in the footsteps of his last hit,"Midnight in Paris. " This weekend, Allen's new film, "To Rome With Love," premiered with $379,371, playing in five theaters and averaging $75,874 in each, according to an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures Classics. That's the second-highest per-screen average of 2012, behind only Wes Anderson's"Moonrise Kingdom," which averaged $130,749 when it opened in four theaters last month.

Woody Allen's "To Rome With Love" is an affectionate but meandering comedy that contemplates romance, fame, legacy and longing. It comes with much of the lightness and love for one of Europe's great cities that made last year's "Midnight in Paris" so charming but little of the intellectual and emotional rigor that ultimately turned that film into something magical. Like Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi), a young provincial wife who quickly gets turned around in the Italian capital, audiences will be wishing for a map - the better to follow all the competing themes of "To Rome With Love.

It's been more than 13 years since Roberto Benigni - the actor-director-writer-producer and all-around Italian force of nature - joyously clambered atop the back of seats at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on his way to pick up the Oscar awarded to "Life Is Beautiful" for foreign-language film. Benigni also took home the lead actor Academy Award that night in 1999 for his performance in the World War II drama. Since then, he's had a much lower profile on American movie screens; fans may have caught him in his 2002 version of "Pinocchio"and his 2005 drama "The Tiger and the Snow" (which, like "Life Is Beautiful," costarred his wife, Nicoletta Braschi)

If as widely predicted, Woody Allen wins his fourth Academy Award on Sunday, this time for original screenplay for the romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris," an even safer bet will be that Allen won't be there to accept the Oscar. The academy has a long love affair with Allen — a record 23 Oscar nominations, including wins for writing and directing the 1977 best picture winner "Annie Hall" and for his screenplay of 1986's "Hannah and Her Sisters"; 22 of the nominations were for screenplay and directing and one was for lead actor, for "Annie Hall.

Woody Allen earned his 20th nomination Thursday for a Writers Guild of America Award for his original screenplay for "Midnight in Paris. " Allen, 76, received his first nomination from the WGA 46 years ago for "What's New Pussycat?" and won for 1977's "Annie Hall," 1984's "Broadway Danny Rose," 1986's "Hannah and Her Sisters" and 1989's "Crimes and Misdemeanors. " Comedies made a strong showing among the nominees this year. Joining Allen in the original screenplay category are Will Reiser for "50/50"; Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig for "Bridesmaids"; " Diablo Cody for "Young Adult"; and Tom McCarthy for "Win Win" (McCarthy shares story credit on the film with Joe Tiboni)

Woody Allen's 45th feature, "Midnight in Paris," centers on Owen Wilson's character, Gil, the latest in a long line of Woody stand-in figures and, inarguably, one of the best. While in Paris with his fiancée and her parents, Gil, a would-be novelist, gushes about the City of Light — not its present-day incarnation, mind you. Gil dreams of living in the Paris of the 1920s, joining the movable feast that included Hemingway, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Picasso. Those in Gil's circle roundly dismiss his pining for the past.

Talk to Woody Allen and he'll go out of his way to tell you what a crummy musician he is, and yet, for the past half-century or so, his innumerable live performances likely have introduced New Orleans-style jazz to more audiences in America and Europe than anyone outside of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The renowned filmmaker's enthusiasm for his hobby animated a recent phone chat that found the 76-year-old passionate in discussing topics as varied as the artist he'd most like to have played with and his dogged determination to practice at all hours.

"Midnight in Paris" Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $35.99 "Midnight in Paris" isn't as funny as Woody Allen's classic '70s comedies or as thoughtful as his '80s masterpieces, but there's a good reason why it's become the biggest hit of Allen's career. It's such an enchanting little movie, starring Owen Wilson as a successful Hollywood screenwriter who visits Paris with his fiancée and finds himself transported through time to the '20s, where he rubs elbows with the likes of Fitzgerald, Picasso, Hemingway, Dalí and Stein.